Small changes

I've had fun writing this blog.  It takes a lot of time to write a blog every week.  Unfortunately more time than I have right now.  I'm going to change to posting every other week.  I've also noticed that the poetry gets more views than my little opinion pieces so poetry is all that will be in this blog from now on.  Thanks for reading.

Pied Beauty

Pied Beauty

By Gerard Manley Hopkins

Glory to be God for dappled things—

          For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
                   For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
          Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
                   And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;

          Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
                   With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
                                      Praise him.

From:  Americans’ Favorite Poems by Robert Pinsky and Maggie Dietz; © 2000 by Robert Pinsky; W.W. Norton and Company, New York

 

 

 

Botanical Gardens

Many cities have a botanical garden.  Search for the one in your town.  They are so beautiful.  My thumb isn’t very green.  I admire the work and planning it takes to make these gardens a showcase.

Know that botanical gardens are different than nature centers.  A botanical garden is meticulously planned, every flower, every shrub, every blade of grass is put into its proper place.  As I said it’s a showcase.  A nature center is more concerned with keeping the land the way it was kept before we started building stuff.  It’s more natural.

Both spaces have their purpose.  Both have some kind of foundation to help financially keep the place going.  They may charge a small admission fee but that barely keeps the lights on.  That supporting group may sell plants in the spring or have special tours and classes during the summer.  Take advantage of those things.  Even if you don’t have the money to donate ask about volunteer opportunities and donate your time.  If you are enjoying the gardens make an effort to pay it forward, so your kids can enjoy them also.

Pack out what you pack in.

 

Wild Flowers

I wrote before that I don’t know a lot about the flowers and trees that I see then I go hiking.  I usually research that when I get home but I did do a little research on wild flowers for this blog.

Marion Edsall in her book “Roadside Plants and Flowers” makes a very interesting point.  “Many of the wayside plants . . . are ‘aliens’ in the biological sense . . .”  They come from the “Old World” either on purpose or by accident.  It makes me wonder what was here before we of European decent invaded the land.

Ox-Eye Daisy

Another great book I checked out from the library gave a more in depth way of identifying the wild flowers you find on the trail.  “Wildflowers of Wisconsin” written by Stan Tekiela is very well organized.  Mr. Tekiela divides his book by color of flower, size of plant then by the appearance of the flowers (clustered, bell shaped, etc.).  He also looks at the leaf shape and how they are attached to the stem (opposite, alternately, etc.).

Both books were very informative but kind of heavy.  I wouldn’t have room for lunch on my backpack if I hauled them on the trail.  Yeah, you’re right I could get a bigger back pack or eat a smaller lunch.  But doing the research when I get home is more fun for me.  I stop every 20 feet to take pictures, which means it takes me about 45 minutes to hike a mile of trail.  It would take me an hour if I looked every plant up on the trail.

Whether you decide to lug books with you or do your research later doesn’t matter just get outside and enjoy the flowers.

Pack out what you pack in.

 

Sources:

Roadside Plants and Flowers by Marian S. Edsall; University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, WI; © 1985 Board of Regents UW System.

Wildflowers of Wisconsin:  Field Guide by Stan Tekiela; Adventure Publications, Cambridge, MN; © 2000

Adapting

Writers observe then put those observations on paper (or on the computer screen).  I spend a lot of time observing the critters outside my living room window.  Rabbits, birds, and squirrels make up the bulk of my entertainment.  I’m always amazed at how the animals in my neighborhood adapt to the way we humans try to take over everything.  Birds find safety under the eaves we build.  Rabbits find food in the gardens we plant.  Squirrels get exercise from the dogs we’ve domesticated.  When I go for my morning walk sometimes I interrupt a deer’s breakfast in the park.  They have adapted to the changes we have made to their environment.

I sometimes wonder if we are adapting to the changes we’re making.  We spend a lot of time wringing our hands, lamenting the green we’ve lost.  We spend lots of money trying to stop the changes, mitigate the damage caused.

What’s done is done.  Yes, we’ve made mistakes but we can’t go back.  We can only stop remaking those past mistakes.  Does that mean stop all off shore drilling because we had a spill?  No, but we can make the drills safer.

We also need to keep our greed in check.  Think about it.  Most accidents happen because we are hasty.  We’re greedy.  We want everything now, without regard to the consequences.

Slow down.  Think about what you’re doing and how it will affect the future.  That makes a good steward.  The animals have adapted.  We should too.

Pack out what you pack in.

 

Deep in the Quiet Wood

Deep in the Quiet Wood
James Weldon Johnson

Are you bowed down in heart?

Do you but hear the clashing discords and the din of life?
Then come away, come to the peaceful wood.
Here bathe your soul in silence.  Listen!  Now,
From out the palpitating solitude
Do you not catch, yet faint, elusive strains?
They are above, around, within you, everywhere.
Silently listen!  Clear, and still more clear, they come.
They bubble up in rippling notes, and swell in singing tones.
Now let your soul run the whole gamut of the wondrous scale
Until, responsive to the tonic chord,
It touches the diapason of God’s grand cathedral organ,
Filling earth for you with heavenly peace
And holy harmonies.

From:  Black Nature:  Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry, Edited by Camille t. Dungy, ©2009 by the University of Georgia Press, Athens, GA

Clean Lakes

When I was a kid my family went to a lake for a swim.  This lake didn’t have a sandy beach or a paved boat launch.  It was just a cool lake on a hot day.  We waded out, and I stepped on something sharp.  I panicked and screamed.  I’d cut the bottom of my foot on a beer bottle.  The cut wasn’t severe, but I was so embarrassed by how I overacted, and sad that we had to go back to a hot house too soon.

Clean lakes are so important.  Not just the water in them but the bottom and shoreline as well.  Trash, invasive plants and fish, and overdeveloping the shore are all causing damage to our lakes. 

 

There are all sorts of resources to help us keep our lakes clean.  Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy, WI DNR, US Dept. of Interior. just to mention a few.  But the most valuable resource to clean lakes is you.  Take responsibility for the stuff you drag to the beach.  In other words . . .

Pack out what you pack in.